From the President Feb 2013

Greetings to All and Happy February! Many exciting things to let you know this month. It’s Cayenne season, but before you know it, it’ll be 911 / Boxster / 914 / 944 / 968 etc weather… And we have several events leading up to warm weather driving. First off, I want to thank all of you who sent good wishes for this coming year as I take over as President. All I can tell you is that we have talented people who are dedicated to our club and keep it running very nicely. There are some positions coming open in the coming months and the club needs you! Read more about this below…

We received a lot of great feedback on Dr. Gaudio’s article, “To DE or not to DE” – December 2012 issue. Dr. Gaudio was one of my early instructors and is a highly accomplished driver. I liked one line in particular stating that ‘everyone was once a novice.’ So true… There is nothing like our Performance Driving Series. From Autocross [AX] to the Car Control Clinic to Drivers Education [DE] events, we are fortunate in this region to have multiple and varied outlets to use our cars for what they were designed. You should consider this if you haven’t already. One item some members brought up to me was about insurance. Dr. Gaudio is absolutely correct that none of these activities constitutes racing. The only way to be 100% sure about your particular insurance policy is to check with your insurance company before an event. There are also supplemental policies you can purchase specifically for the track [DE events] – details are on our site.

I received several emails this past month about additional options open to our membership. One of these is a Pennsylvania PCA license plate. Several members have these and they look great. You can learn more about these by following the link from our site: arpca.com. Another email came from the AACA Museum in Hershey which is opening a new Exhibit “Porsche – Style and Design” beginning January 25th through April 28th, 2013. There is always a group of ARPCAers who make the run to Hershey for the Porsche Swap Meet every April. This year the Swap Meet is happening on April 20. So it might be a fun thing to take a Ferris Bueller Day Off on the 19th and hit the museum on Friday, grab dinner as a group and then hit the Swap Meet on Saturday… Who’s with me?!?!?

As mentioned up top, we have lots of events happening every month… At the end of January, a group from our region went down to Daytona to watch the 24 Hour Rolex race while another group from our region went to the Double Wide Bar & Grill in the South Side [thanks again to Steve Zumoff who lets us back for some reason each year…] to watch the race on a 10 foot HD screen. All I can tell you is that I was in the former group and we had a great time. Weather wasn’t balmy by Florida standards, but it certainly was by Pittsburgh standards. As usual, Porsche put on a great show.

Want to thank KC Kowalik and the entire staff from the Car Store for hosting the Mid-Winter Party. As always they put on a first class event. Great seeing new faces and I encourage people to try some of our new events. Thanks to Dan Franzetta, Scott Mores, Rob Hoffman, Randy Evans and everyone who contributed time, planning and effort. Thanks also to Jay Policastro, our own Daytona Rolex 24 hour winner, for his elegant presentation. And one more big thank you to Ken & Louise Jeremiah. They are now our club’s first ‘Royalty!’

Our Monthly Club Meeting will happen at Auto Palace on Wednesday February 13 at 7:30pm. Thanks in advance to Aaron and Debbie for hosting us! Please come and see what we do at our meetings [and the gorgeous Auto Palace showroom]. You might even learn the secret hand shake…

Another event you CAN NOT MISS is the All-Member Dinner which will be held at Atria’s on April 6 [thank you Judi!]. This is one of our finest events as we introduce ourselves to our newest members. As many of you know, I was your ‘pledge master’ and gave our most sacred oath to new members. Now that I am managing other duties in the club, you will see a new ‘pledge master.’ What will occur, I cannot say nor will I take any responsibility!!! And if you are a new member in the past year, you need to come. GREAT prizes await you…

As mentioned above, we’re looking for some people to take over some integral positions within our club. The Rabeneck family, who does an incredible amount for the club will be moving at the end of the school year to Georgia. Our loss is the Peach State Region’s gain. Dale is both our webmaster and our Track Chair. Abbi is our Treasurer. We’re fortunate in that Dale & Abbi have offered to work with those who desire to take over these soon-to-be-vacated positions. They have great systems already developed so transition should be seamless. So if you’re interested in working with the club in these capacities, do not be shy! We need great people to keep the club great.

On a more solemn note, ARPCAer Mark Cicacci wrote letting us know John Raysich, a long-time friend of our club, had passed. Mark wrote, “John had worked on at least 8 of my 911’s over the last 15 years. Many of us relied on John’s expertise to keep our prize possessions in top condition. In addition to his skill with a wrench, his guitar playing, welcoming personality and wit made the sometime painful act of repairing our cars a little more bearable. His passing will leave a huge void in the Porsche community.” Another long-time ARPCA member, Karl McGhee, was killed recently in a car accident. Karl was a racer and one of life’s true characters. He also had one of the nicest 1973 911 RS lightweights on this side of the country. Godspeed John & Karl.

So ARPCAers, one more winter month is behind us and lots of great things ahead. Still loving the new format of our Rundschau? Why don’t you write an article about your first Porsche and send it in? Off to my first President’s meeting at the end of the month. Should be interesting. As I said before, I feel like a comic who gets to follow Jerry Seinfeld… But I’ll ensure that our zone knows we are a great region! With that, I wish you GUTE FAHRT! –George